Who was the woman who died after hunger strike in Lake County Jail?

Former airline trainer Lyvita Gomes starves to death after refusing food and water in Lake County Jail

The court appointed Gomes an attorney, who noticed strange behavior at a Dec. 19 hearing. Greg Ticsay, a county public defender, said Gomes apparently thought she was in court for tennis lessons, a delusion that prompted his office to seek a hearing on her mental fitness.

What his office didn't know, Ticsay said, was that Gomes was not eating or drinking.

Hunter said Gomes refused food and water from her first day in jail, saying she was on a hunger strike but declining to give a reason. Jail policy calls for the medical staff to be notified immediately about such protests, and Hunter said Gomes' health was carefully monitored.

On Dec. 21, after showing signs of weight loss, Gomes was moved to the jail medical unit. There, Hunter said, staffers from Correct Care Solutions checked her vital signs every four hours.

On Dec. 27, the jail told the public defender's office about Gomes' refusal to eat — the first her lawyers had heard of the hunger strike, Ticsay said. An attorney went to the jail in a failed attempt to persuade Gomes to accept food and water, he said.

Ticsay said the public defender's office tried to get her hospitalized and worked with the jail to speed up her fitness hearing. But the hearing never took place: On Dec. 29, after the medical staff determined Gomes' life was in danger, she was transferred to Waukegan's Vista Medical Center East, where she died five days later.

"The impression we got is that when she got to the hospital, her condition was so grave there was nothing they could do," Ticsay said.

Vista officials declined to speak about Gomes' care, and Hunter said he didn't know the details because a judge released her from custody after the transfer.

Dr. Catherine Glunz, medical director of the Eating and Weight Disorders Program at the University of Chicago Medical Center, said prolonged starvation and dehydration can cause the body to reach a point of no return.

"This is not good for your body, so it's not easy for your body to recover," she said.

Hunter said his staff was shaken by Gomes' death — the jail's first hunger strike fatality — but he doesn't know what they could have done differently.

Representatives of Lake County United, a coalition of religious institutions that works on social justice issues, are questioning Gomes' treatment. In consultation with Gomes' brother, they have sought information about everything from her medical care to the rationale behind her jury duty arrest.

Oydsteven Gomes, who lives in India, said in an email that the answers could prevent the deaths of others.

"I do not know if this is … a failure of the prison system or a careless culture and attitude towards individuals whatever their circumstance," he wrote. "I do not wish (the inquiry) to be a matter of reprisals but more a matter of learning the truth so that attitudes can change."